thanks for allowing me the space to publicly tell this story as it unfolds, all. if you feel inclined, please repost. and repost some more. i don’t want anyone else to be swindled like this.

i just got off the phone with carmax corporate relations. they say their outright goal is to restore our confidence in the purchase of our van. as of now, these are our options:

1. allow a 3rd party to look at the van and weigh in whether our little rust problem is
a. surface (ie within carmax guidelines for resale) or
b. penetrative (ie outside of their guidelines, and what our mechanic is insisting it is)

2. if the 3rd party says we only have surface rust, but our confidence in the vehicle is not restored, we can have it appraised for trade in.

my problem with option number one is that carmax will likely get to decide who the 3rd party is since they are paying for it…and i wonder just how objective this third party will be in its analysis? also, if it is decided that YES, we have penetrative rust, they still won’t tell me what their recourse will be. in essence, they refuse to commit to help. at all. or claim any ownership.

my problem with option number two is obvious: we lose. we lose our money and our vehicle.

also, it must be said that i am still livid that the service manager argued the definition of oxidation with h, and when i asked him at which point this pocked rust becomes penetrative in his definition, he replied, “i can’t tell you that. i’m not a metallurgist.”

so yeah, that’s where everything is right now. apparently, the lgm is supposed to call me tomorrow.

and they made us cry.
they were condescending.
unhelpful.
unwilling to talk straight.
did i mention unhelpful?

they wanted to charge us to even look at the thoroughly rusted out areas.
they argued the definition of oxidation with h.
they called our mechanic “mistaken”.
all while we stood under our van, watching the rust flake off when touched.

my webform complaint to carmax corporate relations regarding the 2003 honda odyssey we purchased from them last july:

At the time of purchase, we asked to see the mechanic report of all that was wrong w/ the van and what was fixed. What you showed us satisfied our concerns with the safety and condition of the vehicle. What you conveniently left out was the fact that the undercarriage is rusted through. We did not know this until replacing the brakes this week. (We were frustrated enough to find the brakes shot after 5 months.) Our mechanic was incredulous: this van has the same amount of rust as a 1981 vehicle. This van shouldn’t even be on the road. We are a cash-strapped family with two kids who just want a safe vehicle. We paid over $12k CASH! You stole our money. You violated our trust in your company.

I demand some sort of recourse. We cannot continue to put our kids in this van. And we sure don’t have the resources to replace the whole undercarriage of this lemon you sold us.